Discovering Pastélon

In my quest for something different, I came across this recipe and decided to make a few modifications to suit my taste for spiciness in an otherwise sweet and savory dish. Pastélon aka Dominican Lasagna takes a bit of time to prep (1-2 hours), but the cooking time (20 minutes) makes up for it. Some of my modifications include using pepperjack and cheddar cheese instead of the mozzarella because I wanted to capture the Afro-Caribbean feel for the dish and incorporating an obviously Italian-inspired ingredient seems unnecessary.

I deviated from the meat filling as well; using ground, lean turkey instead of ground beef. I LOVE fresh basil but opted for the dried version of my favorite herb as not to dominate the dish with its aromatics. Overall, I fell in love with the sweet, tangy goodness of this meal and, those who sampled a taste, were well pleased. It’s very rich, so it doesn’t take a lot to be satisfied. I see this as a summertime deviation from the culinary norm.